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Welcome! We hope this site will help you find a high quality therapist who is a good match for you and who charges a fee you can afford. We aim to reach those in the community who would not otherwise be able to access therapy due to financial constraints and other life circumstances that make it difficult to pay for full-fee psychotherapy services.


COVID-19 Update:

Many of our therapists are offering phone and online sessions during this public health crisis. Please connect with them directly for details.


WHO ARE WE?

All the therapists listed on this site are students or graduates of TIRP -- the Toronto Institute for Relational Psychotherapy (www.tirp.ca). Most practice in Toronto; some have offices elsewhere in southern Ontario. 

TIRP student therapists are in Phase 2 or 3 of the TIRP training program. Many are mature students, expanding or revising their professional identity. By the beginning of Phase 2, they have completed 120 hours of education and training in psychotherapy with TIRP. Concurrently they have completed at least 40 hours of personal psychotherapy to give them clarity about their own relational patterns and to help them understand what it's like to be a client.

TIRP senior student therapists on this site will likely be in the process of completing Phase 3 of the TIRP training program and will have completed at least 50 clinical hours of supervision and 150 hours of direct client contact, as well as most of their required 120 hours of personal psychotherapy.

The TIRP graduate therapists on this site have completed all 3 Phases of education and training in psychotherapy, along with at least 120 hours of personal psychotherapy, 100 hours of supervision and at least 350 client hours. Though they have completed TIRP practicum requirements, graduates continue to offer some hours of low-cost therapy as part of their ongoing service to the community.          

The TIRP senior students and graduates who offer couples therapy on this site have done additional specific training and supervision in relational work with couples.

All TIRP students, senior students and graduates listed on this site belong to a professional association, subscribe to a professional code of ethics, and carry professional liability insurance. They are all working toward membership in the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario, a professional regulating body officially established on April 1, 2015. TIRP students and senior students are all in clinical supervision with TIRP faculty supervisors. Experienced TIRP graduates participate in voluntary clinical supervision or peer supervision as part of their ongoing commitment to professional development.  


Please note that Students and Senior Students are limited to working with clients residing in Ontario, whereas Graduates are eligible to work with clients residing elsewhere in Canada.

WHAT DO WE OFFER?

TIRP student therapists offer therapy to adult individuals (18 or older) for a cost of $40 per session. You may continue sessions at this fee until your student therapist fulfills all requirements to become a senior student. The therapist will notify you at least eight weeks in advance of this date.

TIRP senior student therapists and graduate therapists offer therapy to adult individuals (18 or older) and/or couples for a cost of between $50 and $80 per session, on a sliding scale. There is no prescribed time limit on the sliding scale fee - clients and therapists negotiate this together.     

The first session with a TIRP senior student therapist or graduate therapist is offered at $50, at which time the ongoing fee will be negotiated, up to a maximum of $80 for subsequent sessions.   

All therapy sessions are private and confidential (unless a life or a child is at risk; your therapist will explain the promise and limits of confidentiality). This website does not represent a TIRP clinic; all agreements and arrangements are between you and your therapist as an individual practitioner. For example, you will decide together on the day, time, and frequency of your sessions, and it will be up to you to decide whether you want to continue with a therapist beyond a first session and for how long. 

Please feel free to browse this site, and then feel free to reach out to any therapist who seems like a possible match for you. Until you make an appointment, there's no obligation, and therapists are required to keep your query calls and emails confidential. Please note, however, that email is not an entirely secure medium, and protect your personal information accordingly.

WHAT IS RELATIONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY?

Relational psychotherapy is a conversation. You and your therapist will talk about what's troubling you, whatever that might be -- for example, stress and anxiety, depression, relationship problems, low self-esteem, addictive patterns, or trauma you experienced earlier in your life. You don't even have to know exactly what's wrong; the nature of the trouble will emerge through conversation.

Your relational therapist won't have an agenda for how you understand what's wrong or for what you should do to feel better. Instead, your therapist will try to understand what it's like to be you, having your experiences and feelings. Being understood from the inside out can make a big difference to how you're able to understand yourself, respect yourself, and make good choices for yourself. It's not a complicated process, but it does require honesty, courage, and commitment from you, and authentic, thoughtful presence from your therapist.

The "relational" of relational therapy has three interconnected meanings. First, if you are going to let yourself be understood, you need to trust the person who offers to understand you; therefore, your therapist will take care to develop a trustworthy relationship with you. Second, your therapist will want to understand you in the contexts of your life, and one important context is your current relationships -- how they tell you who you are and what you're worth. Third, since your early relationships also helped define your sense of self, it can be useful to think about them, too. Making sense of your relational patterns can significantly change them, along with your sense of self, especially when you're exploring from within a trustworthy relationship where what matters is who you really are and what you really feel.  

Your relational therapist won't have specific goals for you in therapy, but if you have goals for yourself, your therapist will support your vision for change. You may develop the clarity, confidence, and direction you seek in a few weeks, or, with longstanding trouble, it may take longer. Your therapist is comfortable with both short-term and long-term therapy.

Since relational therapy is all about understanding your experience of yourself in-relation, your therapist will always be interested in how you are experiencing the therapy relationship. Your therapist will be happy to respond to any questions you have about how the process works and how the two of you can work together most effectively.  

In relational couples therapy, both partners' experience matters equally. Your therapist will strive to understand how the relationship feels to each of you, along with the patterns of relational expectation and emotional response you each bring to the relationship. No matter what problems or issues you need to discuss, your therapist will work to help you both talk and listen in ways that allow each of you to feel better understood, accepted, and supported by the other.  

Important Information about the Limits of What This Site Provides:

The TIRP low-cost therapy web site is intended to facilitate connections between the community and students of TIRP. It also facilitates connections between the community and TIRP graduates. The TIRP low-cost therapy website is not a clinic nor is it a custodian of personal health information. It does not record or maintain a record of connections between clients and therapists.

TIRP students and senior students are under the supervision of a clinical supervisor with TIRP faculty. The student and their supervisor are responsible for creating and maintaining clinical records in accordance with the Professional Practice Standards of the CRPO, PHIPA and any other relevant privacy legislation. Clients are responsible for ascertaining and maintaining a record of the name of their chosen therapist and that therapist's current supervisor as this web site does not record or maintain that information.

TIRP graduates who are listed on the TIRP low-cost therapy website have completed all the requirements of the TIRP program and are responsible for obtaining and maintaining membership with an appropriate professional body (such as the CRPO or the College of Social Workers of Ontario) as well as liability insurance and ongoing supervision. While this web site facilitates connection with these therapists in their private practices, it is the responsibility of the client to ascertain that the therapist is current in their registration and insurance. The TIRP low-cost therapy website cannot take responsibility for guaranteeing or warranting that graduates of the program have maintained currency.          

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